{"product_id":"our-better-natures-9781472156341","title":"Our Better Natures","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNew from the Booker Prize longlisted author of \u003ci\u003eLove and Other thought Experiments\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eOur Better Natures\u003c\/i\u003e is a novel about three very different women - a housewife, an activist, a poet - whose lives overlap in 1970s America. A revelatory novel about how women change history, personal and political.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e'\u003ci\u003eOur Better Natures \u003c\/i\u003eis a stunning meditation on hope, its fragile insistence, driven by Sophie Ward's singular wit and astounding philosophical playfulness. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eIt cements Ward's place as one of our most inventive, inquisitive, \u0026amp; alert novelists working today' \u003c\/b\u003eMARGOT DOUAIHY\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e'\u003ci\u003eOur Better Natures\u003c\/i\u003e is potent and beguiling. It makes one see with a better eye' \u003c\/b\u003eLAURA CARLIN\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e'Our Better Natures\u003c\/i\u003e is an absolute marvel - a marvel of ideas, full of intellectual delights; a marvel of construction that propels us toward the most unexpected - and inevitable - outcomes; a marvel of writing, elegant, poised, wise, achingly beautiful at times, but never pulling focus from the stories of the three women and the people around them; and a marvel of compassion. A truly magnificent creation' \u003c\/b\u003eNANCY CRANE\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAmid the chaos and political upheaval of 1970s America, three very different women must accept the world as it is, or act to change it. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003ePhyllis Patterson is a housewife in White Plains, Illinois.\u003c\/b\u003e Her son Jimmy returns to the family home from Vietnam with a Korean wife and two children. Blindsided by these new additions, particularly her curious granddaughter, Soozie, Phyllis's small-town world is turned upside down in more ways than she could have ever imagined.\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eAndrea Dworkin is an activist in Amsterdam.\u003c\/b\u003e Having fled her abusive husband and their life together, she finds herself desperate for answers, for herself and the world around her. An encounter with Noam Chomsky and Michel Foucault at their infamous Dutch debate provokes her burgeoning independence. Returning to America she will embody a revolution, no matter the price.\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eMuriel Rukeyser is a poet in New York.\u003c\/b\u003e Despite protestations from her lover, Monica, Muriel insists on campaigning against injustice, using her words as weapons and pushing her body to its limits. In this era of political unrest, Muriel's life stands as a testament to the possibility of creative resistance. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA single postcard from an imprisoned writer thousands of miles away will unite these women in the fight for a world they believe in.\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eFull of compassion, imagination and rich storytelling, \u003ci\u003eOur Better Natures\u003c\/i\u003e is a powerful novel about language, connection and freedom.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ch4\u003eDetails\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003eISBN13: 9781472156341\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFormat: Paperback \/ softback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNumber of Pages: 288\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEdition: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication Date: 03 Feb 2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublisher: Little, Brown Book Group\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication City, Country: London, United Kingdom\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDimensions (cm): 46.8(H)x32(L)x1.8(W)354\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWeight (gm): 354\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h4\u003eSophie Ward is an actor and writer. She is the author of \u003ci\u003eLove and Other Thought Experiments\u003c\/i\u003e, which was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2020, and her second novel \u003ci\u003eThe Schoolhouse\u003c\/i\u003e, which was shortlisted for the Polari Prize 2023. Sophie has a degree in Philosophy and Literature and a PhD from Goldsmiths on the use of narrative in philosophy of mind. She lives in London with her Korean-American wife.\u003ch4\u003eReviews\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003ci\u003eOur Better Natures\u003c\/i\u003e is an elixir of hard-won inspiration and risky curiosity. Set against the tumult of the 1970s, this taut novel unfolds with elegant precision and vulnerability, examining the inner lives of a poet, a small-town housewife, and an activist all navigating change and choice as their known worlds collapse. \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eOur Better Natures \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eis a stunning meditation on hope, its fragile insistence, driven by Sophie Ward's singular wit and astounding philosophical playfulness. It cements Ward's place as one of our most inventive, inquisitive and alert novelists working today\u003c\/b\u003e * MARGOT DOUAIHY *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eOur Better Natures\u003c\/i\u003e is potent and beguiling. It makes one see with a better eye\u003c\/b\u003e -- LAURA CARLIN\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eOur Better Natures\u003c\/i\u003e is an absolute marvel - a marvel of ideas, full of intellectual delights; a marvel of construction that propels us toward the most unexpected - and inevitable - outcomes; a marvel of writing, elegant, poised, wise, achingly beautiful at times, but never pulling focus from the stories of the three women and the people around them; and a marvel of compassion. A truly magnificent creation\u003c\/b\u003e -- NANCY CRANE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn ambitious and earnest (in a good way) novel that demonstrates that even the most 'ordinary' of lives can, in their own small, significant way, change the world\u003c\/b\u003e -- Catherine Jarvie * Marie Claire UK *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eOur Better Natures \u003c\/i\u003eis a triumph of literary empathy\u003c\/b\u003e, an intellectual adventure connecting Korean immigrants in the US midwest to the activist Andrea Dworkin in Amsterdam to the poet Muriel Rukeyser as she protests the Vietnam war. Sophie Ward miraculously joins each living, breathing dot of this unique novel to build a convincing picture of a turbulent, formative cultural and social moment * RICHARD BEARD *\u003cbr\u003e'Sophie Ward's inventive novel... seamlessly integrates the real private and public lives of Andrea Dworkin and Muriel Rukeyser with the fictional world of Phyllis Patterson... \u003cb\u003eWard fleshes out her real-life characters with complete conviction, deftly threading their own words into the fabric of her fiction\u003c\/b\u003e' -- Michael Arditti * Financial Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn ambitious, multivoiced account of second-wave feminism shot through with Korean flavours and celebrity cameos... Ward evokes the stages of womanhood with dark panache\u003c\/b\u003e -- Melissa Katsoulis * The Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e[T]he strength of sympathetic engagement is what the novel has always done best, [and] Ward movingly demonstrates the need to use this to keep freeing ourselves, day after day\u003c\/b\u003e -- Lara Feigel * Guardian, 'Book of the Day' *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e[\u003ci\u003eOur Better Natures\u003c\/i\u003e] tackles big ideas with verve while remaining alert to the multiple power dynamics shaping women's lives\u003c\/b\u003e -- Claire Allfree * Daily Mail *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA captivating invocation of a moment of revolutionary zeal and hope\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003ci\u003eOur Better Natures\u003c\/i\u003e invites us to consider what has been achieved since the 1970s - and what hasn't. It is also a prescient reminder of the importance of testimony in the fight for justice, of individual stories. Eventually, they will be heard. * Irish Examiner *","brand":"Sophie Ward","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48291600400601,"sku":"9781472156341","price":34.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0502\/9530\/8441\/files\/9781472156341.jpg?v=1773494924","url":"https:\/\/www.arielbooks.com.au\/products\/our-better-natures-9781472156341","provider":"Ariel","version":"1.0","type":"link"}